About the Project Partner

Limnos is a private company specializing in research, development, implementation and marketing of ecoremediation technologies for environmental protection and nature conservation. Its main focus is research and use of sustainable solutions for protection of aquatic ecosystems and green technologies for restoration of degraded environments.

Since 1992 the company has prepared plans for construction and has finished construction of over 40 constructed wetlands for cleaning municipal wastewater from settlements in Slovenia, Italy and Croatia, for cleaning industrial wastewaters and discharge waters from municipal landfills. Over 25 projects for rehabilitation of old landfills were implemented. The company also carried out analyses of ecologically acceptable flows on a number of brooks and rivers in Slovenia, where water abstractions led to a degradation of the aquatic ecosystem. The company is working on revitalization projects of bodies of flowing and standing water: the ecological balance in degraded aquatic ecosystems is restored through implementation of suitable ecoremediation measures.

Through an active role in research and use of sustainable technologies, Limnos contributes to implementation and achievement of EU environmental legislation goals. The company’s newest research is aimed at development of new ecoremediation methods like protection of freshwater sources and ecoremediation for management and protection of Natura 2000 sites, development of mitigation measures through water abstractions, etc.

Limnos applies for and manages international and national projects, carries out feasibility studies of ecoremediation systems in various regions, works in cooperation with users, carries out ecoremediation-related training programmes as a part of faculty lectures, undergraduate and postgraduate mentorships and workshops. Education and training courses at all levels represent an important activity of the company as we feel that development and use of new environmental technologies is only possible with an adequately educated population.

The company has managed or participated in a number of international and national projects, such as EUREKA, Era-SME, LIFE, EC Framework Programmes, INTERREG III A, B, etc. Furthermore, the company is also the seat of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) for Slovenia. For the development of new environmental technologies, Limnos has received a number of awards, the most prominent among them being the Lillehammer Award 2001 for the EUREKA project, the National Energy Globe Award: “Sustainable rehabilitation of the landfill site” (2008) and the European Regional Champions Award: “Centre of Excellence for Environmental Technologies” (2008).

Video Presentation

Panoramic Presentation

Video transcript

Limnos is a company dealing in applied technologies. Through constant research, its employees search for sustainable solutions for protection of aquatic ecosystems and through the use of green technologies they renew the degraded environment.

Marjana Vrhovšek, Limnos manager: It is in the interest of our company to transfer that what people have been seeing in nature, how nature has through millions of years carried out certain repairs in the environment, into technology and use that technology to repair what mankind might have broken in the last decade.

Dr. Danijel Vrhovšek, owner and founder of Limnos:People are discovering Europe-wide that concrete and machines no longer cut it, that we have to turn to nature, to find out how it has managed to survive millions upon millions of years. Now we are trying to implement this technology into practice and I have to say, we are doing quite well. People are learning about all kinds of advantages, not only how to protect the environment, but how to live with the environment.

The family company employs nine researchers.

Dr. Danijel Vrhovšek, owner and founder of Limnos:I lectured at the University of Ljubljana for 25 years, then I founded this company 25 years ago, which has now grown into a solid development, research and ecological company.

Today, the most current topics are purification of wastewater from smaller settlements, groundwater protection and revitalization of bodies of water in order to prevent floods and droughts.
Dr. Danijel Vrhovšek, owner and founder of Limnos:People today are no longer naive and you have to offer them something that is acceptable in practice, something they need which has perspective, something they can live with. I believe that with ecoremediations we’ve hit the bull’s eye and that people have started to discover and to accept our approaches to environmental protection.

What is ecoremediation exactly?

Dr. Danijel Vrhovšek, owner and founder of Limnos: Ecoremediation in short is analysing the natural processes and natural ecosystems and then adaptation of these processes and systems for protection and restoration of the environment.

Through educational projects they also try to transfer their findings and knowledge to younger generations.

Alenka Sajovic, head of training, promotion and public relations at Limnos: In any case we know that the guidelines are aimed at protecting the environment and at achieving sustainable development and I believe transferring the knowledge developed by the company to younger generations is the right thing to do.

However, they don’t study only from books, but through live demonstrations in the field as well. Like at the outdoors learning course in Modraže.

Marjana Vrhovšek, Limnos manager:Not only do we show them something on a heads-up display or with a video, which probably isn’t sufficient, but we also give them the opportunity to test certain things out in nature and see what is really going on.

Dr. Danijel Vrhovšek, owner and founder of Limnos:You know, practice shows that when people see how it works – that dirty water flows into the purification plant and the plants make it clean – they understand that nature can carry out certain processes on its own.

Alenka Sajovic, head of training, promotion and public relations at Limnos: Well, it’s a project through which we would like to teach secondary school students how to obtain knowledge from the nature and how to protect the environment. This calls for dynamic and active work, so they can actually create something and learn something from a concrete situation.

The outdoors educational course in Modraže is merely one part of their contribution to the project, aimed at establishing suitable conditions for experiential education for sustainable development. In addition to what was already discussed, Limnos also works on a number of other nature protection projects, making the job of its employees diverse and interesting.

Dr. Maja Zupančič Justin, head of the research and development department at Limnos:There is always something new to do. As we are a small company, there are always so many different things to do and work never becomes a routine. Every day you do something different, but it’s all centred on environmental protection, ecosystemic solutions and ecoremediations.

What do you most like about your work?

Dr. Darja Istenič, researcher and head of the Nature’s Classroom project at Limnos: I love to develop new technologies and compare our results with those of others – to find out in which direction the trends are going and what’s new in the world regarding to these technologies.

They have received several awards for development of new environmental technologies, such as the Lilehamer Award 2001, the National Energy Globe Award in 2008 and in the same year the European Regional Champions Award. Through an active role in research and use of sustainable technologies, Limnos contributes to achieving EU legislation goals and contributes to preserving our habitat.